1 Shulamite: By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but I did not find him.

2 I will rise now, and go about the city; in the streets and in the broad places I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I did not find him.

3 The watchmen who go about the city found me and I said, Have you seen him whom my soul loves?

4 Scarcely had I passed by them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I took hold of him and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the room of her who conceived me.

5 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the does of the field, that you do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases.

6 Shulamite: Who is this coming out of the wilderness like columns of smoke, like the smoke of sacrifices of myrrh and frankincense, of all the fragrant powders of the merchant?

7 Behold, it is Solomon’s bed, with sixty mighty men around it, of the mighty of Israel.

8 They all hold swords, being expert in war. Every man has his sword on his thigh because of fear in the night.

9 King Solomon made himself a palanquin from trees of Lebanon.

10 He made its pillars of silver, its support of gold, its seat of purple; its interior paved with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.

11 Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and see King Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day, the day of the gladness of his heart.